Following a £100 million investment, Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port plant has become the UK's first all-electric car plant. Located on the banks of the Mersey, just south of Liverpool, the plant produces vans and passenger vehicles such as the cutting-edge Vauxhall Combo Electric, which is powered by a 52 kWh lithium-ion battery.
Plant manager Dianne Miller recently won the Autocar Great Women Manufacturing award in recognition of her role in electrifying the plant, a key part of parent company Stellantis' goal to halve its carbon footprint by 2030 We talked to her about hydrogen energy. , local jobs and why it's vital we keep vehicle manufacturing in the UK.
What is the motivation behind Vauxhall's accelerated path to full electrification?
We recognize that we need to decarbonize for the future and that is why our ethos is to reach carbon neutrality as soon as possible; we have made it one of our main strategic objectives. We also recognize that the Vauxhall brand is 120 years old and to remain relevant we must offer electric variants for every model we make, which we now do across the board. Our Vauxhall plant at Ellesmere Port is now 100% electric, making it the first plant of its kind in the UK.
What kind of cutting-edge technology and infrastructure improvements have you invested in at Ellesmere Port?
The largest investment has been the development of our battery plant. In an electric vehicle, each battery pack weighs about 350 kg. We have 18 people per shift working on the battery packs and they produce approximately 120 per day. Each pack is made up of twelve modules, each of which is about the size of a traditional 12-volt internal combustion engine (ICE) car battery, and workers must be trained to high standards to assemble them. In terms of sustainability, building them here helps us reduce our emissions as they are heavy and it is not environmentally friendly to transport them around the world.
At Ellesmere Port, our ethos is that not only should the product be carbon neutral, but so should the plant. In our bid to be more carbon neutral, we have switched to “4Wet technology” when painting vehicles, reducing the number of times they need to be baked in the oven. We've made the plant smaller so we don't need as much inventory and we've prioritized reuse, reprogramming robots that used to work on ICE cars to perform different tasks on electric vehicles.
What do you think are the strategic implications for Vauxhall and the wider automotive industry?
The original plan for the wider UK automotive industry was to ban new sales of ICE vehicles by 2030, which the government then changed to 2035. We are sticking to our target of full electrification by 2030, which is part of Stellantis' plan to cut 50% of its 2021 carbon footprint by 2030 and be Net Zero, globally, by 2038. In the near future, we hope to work with HyNet North West Hydrogen Pipeline, which should supply us with green hydrogen to fuel our system, and we are planning to invest in on-site solar energy, meaning that by 2027/28 we should also be carbon neutral as a plant.
Finally, what kind of role does Ellesmere Port play in the local economy?
We are a large employer with more than 1,000 people working at the plant. We are trying to work with the Welsh Government and the Northern Automotive Alliance to reach out to local parts suppliers, who can be competitive with international suppliers because they do not have to cover the cost of delivery. And we have developed a new maritime logistics service with our own ship that connects us directly with our sister plant in Vigo. Peel Ports has created a special center for us at Queen Elizabeth II Eastham Dock which is just two miles from the plant and shipping parts this way removes around 14,700 truck trips off European roads each year and reduces our footprint. logistics carbon by 30%.
If you drive an electric vehicle today or consider driving one in the future, please complete the simple form below to help accelerate the electrification of the UK's roads and create a better environment for everyone.
For more information on Vauxhall's electric vehicle range and the Electric Streets campaign, visit Opel
